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Eternity |
The Melbourne Herald newspaper recalled on 20 June 1930 a local eccentric who traveled the suburbs 'adorning all the walls he could find with the one word, "Eternity"'.
The word was later written numerous times in chalk on the streets of Sydney, Australia from the 1940s through to the 1960s.
The word had been written by Arthur Stace, an illiterate former soldier, petty criminal and alcoholic who became a devout Christian in the late 1940s.
For years after his conversion up until his death in the 1960s, Stace walked the streets of Sydney at night writing the single word "Eternity" on walls and footpaths in his unmistakable copperplate handwriting.
Stace's identity remained unknown until it was finally revealed in a newspaper article in 1956. It is estimated Stace wrote the word over half a million times. "
Eternity (graffito)
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| Arthur Stace |
Australian contemporary artist, illustrator and filmmaker
Martin Sharp noticed it and celebrated Stace's one-man campaign in many of his works.
More recently, some Australian Christian groups, including those at universities, have run evangelistic campaigns whose promotion involved chalking "Eternity", after Stace's fashion, on footpaths.
As part of the fireworks on Sydney Harbour to mark
More recently, some Australian Christian groups, including those at universities, have run evangelistic campaigns whose promotion involved chalking "Eternity", after Stace's fashion, on footpaths.
As part of the fireworks on Sydney Harbour to mark
New Year's Day of the year 2000, the graffito "Eternity" was illuminated on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
This moment was symbolically recreated later that year as part of the
Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony,
beamed to billions of television viewers worldwide.
In 2001 the Council of the City of Sydney was granted a trademark
(817532) on the script in order to protect it from indiscriminate
commercial use."
The writing of Arthur Stace could never seriously be viewed as
vandalism, although on a few occasions he was cautioned by the police.
The temporary nature of the chalk used was in direct contrast to the message communicated by the word.
I made some modifications to Stace's iconic chalk image below;-)
This moment was symbolically recreated later that year as part of the
Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony,
beamed to billions of television viewers worldwide.
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Mr Eternity: Arthur Stace |
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MR ETERNITY |
The temporary nature of the chalk used was in direct contrast to the message communicated by the word.
Ha. Your post reminded me that we studied this at uni in Sydney. Had completely forgotten about it.
ReplyDeleteFascinating story. Thanks!
Interesting stuff never having heard about Stace previously - strange how 'messages' can be quite simple but still make an impact.
ReplyDelete@Mike
ReplyDeleteDid you pick up on the fact that he died in 1967 ?
@Gordon
ReplyDeleteI knew about Stace because I used to design customer t-shirt designs at the REMO store at Bondi and REMO used to sell the ETERNITY design on a t-shirt of theirs,but it was reading Peter Carey's book
'30 Days in Sydney'
that reminded me of the story.
So I thought I would do a post to let the overseas readers into the meaning of the word that was flashed around the world twice with the year 2000 fireworks,and the Olympic Games in Oz.
Carey is going to be at the Byron Bay Writer's Festival this year and I hoping I can get down there to see him.
No, didn't notice the '67.
ReplyDelete